You’re All Doomed! – Kill Team Mortifico

Kill Team

Kill team is a squad level skirmish variant of Warhammer 40,000.  Armies are really simple – 200 points chosen from your codex with limits of two troops, one elite and one fast attack.  You must choose at least minimum sized units and you can make three models Specialists with a special rule.  Finally you choose a model to be your leader, he will gain skills and characteristics as the tournament goes on.

The full rule pack is available on Warhammer World’s website here.

The rules allow for some great combinations but I didn’t feel the need to ruin my list with anything sporting or fluffy – I went with the most horrific Tyranid list i could possibly imagine.

Firstly the Doom Of Malantai was a must-have.  At 90 points he’s a bargain in any Tyranid army although I’d normally only take him with a Mycetic Spore which isn’t an option in Kill Team as everything starts on the table.  But you can give him a special rule so it seemed rude not to give him Eternal Warrior.  That means he has 4 wounds, Eternal Warrior and a 3+ Invulnerable save and if that isn’t powerful enough his strength is equal to his wounds, he gains a wound for every wound he causes and enemy models within 6” must take a leadership test on 3d6 and take a wound (with no armour saves) for each point they fail by.  Oh, and he has a psychic power that is an AP1 Ordnance Template but if that’s not enough you can swap it for a psychic power from Telekinesis, Telepathy or Biomancy.

(needless to say I wasn’t the only Tyranid player with the Doom)

My second choice was a bit more fun although still a really tough option.  In most of the Codices there’s a few Fast Attack choices that aren’t quite as good as the Troops choice they are similar to – for example Necon Triarch Praetorians, Grey Knight Interceptors and Assault Marines.  They’re all ok and fun to use in friendly games but they don’t score.  In Kill Team games though everything scores so this gave me a great excuse to field a unit I’ve always wanted but not been able to justify –Tyranid Shrikes.   The Shrikes are the same points and stats as Tyranid Warriors except they lose a point of save but gain wings.

I made one a tank hunter with the Armourbane special rule, another received Fleshbane and then the third became my Leader.

That came to a total of 195 points.

The tournament consisted of eight games on 4’x4’ boards with an objective in the centre.  Games could last up to 30 minutes and there’s no turn limit.  When half your models are dead you must take a break test at the beginning of each turn – this is a leadership test using the model with the highest leadership. If you fail this then you lose and your models are removed from the table.

Most of the tournaments at Warhammer World simply require you to hand in whether the game was a win, a loss or a draw, but this event kept track of the number of victory points you gained.

Points were awarded for: -

• 1 per enemy specialist killed
• 2 for killing the enemy leader
• 1 for First Blood
• 1 for Linebreaker
• 5 for holding the central objective
• 2 for making your opponent take a break test
• 3 if your opponent has no models left on the table

So there’s 17 points maximum available each game and then at the end of the tournament you can pick one game as your favourite which gives them another 3 points per nomination.

Game 1

The game was over quite quickly despite my initial concerns that 30 minutes wouldn’t be long enough.  My opponent, John, set up first and in a fairly straight line.  This allowed my shrikes to jump forward and to take the Marines on moving down the line.  Two Terminators fell fairly quickly to Devourer fire (and John’s appalling luck!) but the other three were able to get closer, nearly into close combat, but only one would make it past the gauntlet of Devourer shots, psychic Smite from the Doom and the Doom’s Life Leech.  As soon as the Terminator got into combat it killed a Shrike as it caused instant death with its Power Fist but that left him stood in the middle of the table where he fell victim to the Doom’s AP2 Smite power

The Final Score was 17-1.

Game 2

The second game was against Chris and his Space Wolves.  This time it was Wolf Guard in Terminator Armour which meant he was able to squeeze in a few more options so there was a Frost Axe and a Heavy Flamer.   Again the first two terminators fell easily but the other’s held and saw my Leader shot off the board.  His death bought me enough time to bring the Doom to within 6” where his Life Leech ability managed to kill all three remaining Wolf Guard.  Frustratingly as I wiped him out I lost out on 2 points for making my opponent take a break test.

It was over so quickly we were able to get a second game in which Chris did much better in.  C’est la vie!

Final Score 15-2

Game 3

I was to once again face Space Marines for my third game but this time it would be against Scouts.  This was one of the fluffiest armies in the tournament consisting of five scouts and a Land Speeder Storm with Assault Cannon and five Scouts.  Scouts are a great choice for Kill Team as they can all take different options – this had a missile launcher, a sniper rifle, a bolt gun, power weapons and a shotgun – all with camo cloaks.  The skills help make them much more deadly than regular 40k, the scout with the shotgun had Armourbane and so rolled 2d6 against vehicles and the Land Speeder had Shrouding giving it a 3+ cover save if it moved and 2+ if it Turbo Boosted!

My opponent, Steve, set up first and was able to place his missile launcher on top of a building with a view of the whole battlefield and all of the scouts in various amounts of cover.   Missile Launcher terrified me as it was able to kill the Shrikes in a single hit but fortunately he spent the first couple of turns targeting the Doom who could easily take the damage.   The Doom got into charge range and went flying forward, bursting the heads of a lot of the other scouts as he ran past them.  As all men are individual units I was able to target the Missile Launcher once I got it range and although it cost me one of my Shrikes he died eventually – his 3+ cover save didn’t make it easy.  Eventually it was just the Land Speeder Storm left which gave me the opportunity to move my ‘nids into scoring positions while my Shrike with Armourbane hunted it down.

Final Score 17-1

Game 4

Out of about 68 entrants 12 of them had taken a Kill Team of just a single Riptide suit so it was inevitable that I’d run into one sooner or later.  Sadly it was to be sooner.

Fortunately i’d seen a post on the Warhammer World Facebook page that the Riptide could be taken as a Kill Team and so, like the Cylons, had a plan…

It wasn’t to be the most exciting game ever although my opponent, Mike, was a nice chap.  Basically I flew a Shrike straight at him and, although he got badly beaten by Overwatch, tied the Riptide up for a turn.  This let me get another Shrike stuck in and then I could move the Doom in.  Both Shrikes died leaving one waiting on the objective while the Doom and Riptide laid into each other.  With the Doom’s ability to gain wounds as he dealt them and the Riptide’s 2+ Armour Save and It Will Not Die special rule it didn’t look like either side was going to kill each other in the traditional way.  What followed was about 7 game turns of the Doom taking Break Tests on his Ld10 and the Riptide taking leadership tests on 3d6 with his Ld10 and taking wounds to the difference.  Eventually the Doom got one wound through the Riptide’s armour and won a combat – the Riptide then failed his leadership test and the Doom ran him down!

Final Score – 14-4

A quick note on Riptides – It’s a bit of hypocritical of me to complain about another Kill Team but Riptides’ are a little broken in this game.  As they are a team of a single model you can never give away more than 13 victory points* – they never take Break Tests and there is only one Specialist to kill.  Also the skills gained by the Leader get better as you kill more so Riptides gain skills quicker and have more choice than other teams.  They’re also rock.

*The more observant of you will notice I took 14 points rather than 13, I realised my mistake whilst writing this article.  It wouldn’t have affected the final result.    

Game 5

The fifth game was against Dark Eldar.  This consisted of a Venom, 3 Trueborn (2 with Splinter Cannons) and 3 Reaver Jetbikes.  My opponent, Robyn, played them exactly as Dark Eldar would – the bikes swept in with their Blade Vanes, landed a few hits and then ran away.  The Venom stayed 36” away and shot the Doom to death and one of the Shrikes with its own Splinter Cannons and the two from the Trueborn – that’s 24 poisoned shots a turn!  The other Shrikes picked off the Reavers that couldn’t run away in time but then hid away from the Venom behind some buildings.  This lead to a stand-off while I hid and Robyn didn’t dare move forward into range.  Unlike regular 40k there is no round limit so there is no pressure to move if you’re going to get shot (although my break tests were getting riskier!).  Fortunately for me Robyn cracked first and disembarked from the Venom – this meant that come my turn I was able to jump out from my cover and take out one of her Trueborn.  That put them below 50% and forced them to take a break test the next turn which they failed!  Result!

Only it wasn’t.  After we handed the results in and were packing away Robyn realised she had rolled a 9 for her break test and Trueborn are Leadership 9 so they should never have failed!  This left us in a bit of a dilemma and so I did the decent thing and got the refs to take 3 points off my score.  The morale victory was still mine at least.

Final Score 8-4

Game 6

Game 6 was against Sisters of Battle.  With a squad of 5 Seraphim and then 7 Celestians (including a Relentless Multi-Melta) you certainly get a lot of models.  The multi-melta scared me but fortunately Garry shot at the Doom rather than the Shrikes (which would have died instantly).  The sisters then lined up to charge the Doom but to make sure they got the charge they were as close as possible.  This meant that seven sisters were killed in the shooting phase by Life Leech before they even got to charge the Doom.  After that it was really a case of mopping up the survivors.

I always tell my opponents about the Doom at the beginning of the game but I don’t mention it after that – I think it’s wrong to spring something on someone but it really ruins your chances if you’re telling your opponent how to play.

Final Score – 17-0

Game 7

My seventh game was against Jack, a young lad, who must have been around 13.  The age restrictions are lower for Kill Team events for some reason.   He had a unit of Chaos Chosen that were all armed with Plasma Guns except one who had a Lascannon.

As with the other games our strategies weren’t overly complicated and we advanced slowly toward the middle.  I was playing nicely for the first turn and then suddenly the Lascannon vapourised one of my Shrikes!  This was more than a little worrying so i upped my game and promptly wiped Jack out in the next turn.   Again I did this too quickly and missed out on the victory points for a break test.  We then played a second game which was much more fun!

Final Score – 14-1

Game 8

I played Jon for the final game.  He had an Eldar army that was basically 200 points of Warp Spiders so should have been something of a walkover.  Sadly he also turned out to be the only opponent who knew how the Doom worked and what a threat he is.

He threw his Warp Spiders at the Doom and destroyed him with their S6 shots.  The Shrikes tried to avenge him and shot a couple and attacked some in close combat but struggled to deal with the Warp Spider’s 3+ armour save and were eventually worn down.  To be taken down by something as unusual as Warp Spiders was really unexpected but served me right for overestimating my opponent.  It’s also a great example of how useful units are that you wouldn’t normally consider taking.

Final Score – 5-15

The Aftermath

After all the games we gathered around the stage for the award ceremony.   As the player draws are all random it’s hard to tell how well you’re doing when the awards are presented.  Jack, the young lad whose Chaos I beat won a prize for best army list – he’d made his as a Purity Seal on a Bolt Pistol.  Best squad went to a Kill Team of Hellions as did the best single miniature.  Second and Third place in the overall rankings went to Riptide battlesuits.  I was shocked to find that I’d come first!

I actually had 2 less gaming points than the top Riptides but I’d received 3 best game nominations!  That gave me an extra 9 victory points and meant that I won by a clear 7 points!  That was shocking as I really thought I had an army that people would hate but fortunately for me people hate Riptides more!

Even before the awards ceremony I thought the Kill Team was one of the best events I’d been to.  I really would recommend going as its great fun, much more relaxed than the larger tournaments and absolutely frantic!   It’s so fast that i was able to get ten games in over the day and I was still ready to play when i got back.

It’s well run too.  The Events Team have been really good at responding to complaints about Riptides and changed the rules so that teams must have at least three models and no model may have more than 3 wounds.  Those make sense and ban the Doom as well which can only be a good thing.  There are a couple of other innocent victims in this – the Dark Eldar Clawed Fiends and Razorwing Flocks are now no longer allowed as they have 5 wounds each.

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